Cosmopolitan Foundation of Canada

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Foundation Overview

The American aviation industry had Howard Hughes. The Cosmopolitan Foundation of Canada, Inc. had Fred Hughes.

Fred was, and still is, a great supporter of Cosmopolitan International and its charitable arm, the Cosmopolitan Diabetes Foundation, whose mandate is to fund diabetes related education and research. This Cosmopolitan Diabetes Foundation, which is primarily supported by individual Cosmopolitan from the USA, Canada and Mexico, was headquartered in the USA, and for this reason it was Fred’s view that there would be more support from Canadians for this worthy cause if there were a Canadian arm. Secondly, the original Foundation could not issue Canadian Tax deductible receipts and, being the good businessman Fred was, he surmised that this was a restriction in raising public funds for this project from Canadians.

So the mission began to register a Canadian Charitable Foundation. If you have ever had anything to do with the government of Canada and the Charities Directorate of the Canadian Revenue Agency, you have an idea of what Fred was up against. He wrote letters, filled out forms, made telephone calls and got so frustrated he was about to give up when he lamented to a fellow Cosmopolitan, Barry Collins from Saskatoon, about the difficulties he was encountering.

It so happens that Barry was not only a lawyer, but he was also with the Department of Justice. Barry knew how the system worked, he knew who to contact, and had the ear of some pretty influential people in Ottawa. Barry reworked the application, prepared the appropriate By-Laws and with signers Rnold Smith, Aubrey Reimer, and Barry Collins, the charter for the Cosmopolitan Foundation of Canada, Inc., was granted as a registered Charity on July 1, 1984.

Fred Hughes was the very first contributor, with Ned Dudley, who later became President of Cosmopolitan International, the second, and Bill Pollon the third. This Canadian Foundation has now raised and spent in excess of $788,000 on diabetes related research and projects.

Decisions relating to the Cosmopolitan Foundation Canada, Inc. are made by a Board of Directors.